Maguro's Fear
by Nintendo-Sega Nerd
Summary: While Maguro's best friend Ringo is terrified of ghosts, Maguro isn't afraid of anything. Or so he says. But when he and Ringo get sucked into a certain space traveler's memory rift, he second guesses himself. References to MaguRin. DISCLAIMER: I don't own Puyo Puyo characters. SEGA does.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Compared to his closest friend Ringo Andou, who was terrified of ANYTHING you couldn't poke with a stick or concoct a liable explanation on what it was, in other words: ghosts; Maguro Sasaki didn't scare easily.

An understatement. He didn't scare at all. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he was genuinely terrified of something- unless you count the time he mistook that walking disco fish... Sukamamamdo- Sukadooro- oh, whatever, it was a fish anyhow. He thought it was his cousin from a distance. That was mortifying.

(For the record, Maguro says it should be a common mistake for someone who can barely see through his hair.)

I digress.

So he wasn't scared of anything, or so he thought. However, one incredibly fateful, normal day, that all changed.

It started with a lab experiment, obviously.

At Suzuran High School, the bell had just tolled to signal the end of another long, boring, repetitive, uninformative, dull school day. Maguro groaned and peeled himself off the desk he'd been ever-so-sneakily sleeping on, (hair covering your eyes does have its benefits), and zipped up his bag. Everyone had already left the classroom ages ago, it seemed, and the teacher was giving him an odd look.

"Sasaki? Do you need something?"

Maguro cringed and whipped out the old smooth-talker with a false smile. "Nope, teach, I'm just on my way out. Sorry, lot on my mind and all. You know how it is, mid-semester, that's when we really have to up our game with the academics. Speaking of which, I loved the lesson. Real inspiring. It was as riveting as your dress today⭐."

The ice immediately melted and his Japanese History teacher smiled warmly. "Why, thank you, young man. Be sure to not get too caught up in your schedule."

"Absolutely. I'll bid you ado, then⭐." Maguro stepped out of the room with an enthusiastic wave and immediately deflated. He was so dang tired today- it's all thanks to Risukuma, who wanted to pull an all-nighter on the new horror game he bought yesterday.

" _It'll be an enlightening experience,_ he said! _We'll see if you're truly resistant to terror_ , he said!" Maguro muttered. "Enlightening experience, resistant to terror, my butt. Who even talks like that? Only thing he's discovered is I'm NOT resistant to zero sleep."

All his mumblings and grumblings brought him to the chemistry room. This was where he, Ris, and Ringo hung out after school- granted it was just him and Ringo watching Ris do cool explosions and junk, but he felt involved.

He reached for the handle and immediately flinched back as the door was flung open. Out in front of him tumbled a big furry blob, a flash of white, and a trail of dangerous sickly smoke.

The bundle of limbs in front of him splayed out on the floor, groaning. Maguro grinned and poked his friend Ris's nose.

Oh yeah. One minor detail. His friend was a bear. And a squirrel.

Don't even try to ask.

Immediately Ris shot a paw up at his mouth and clamped it shut, exhaling a breathy "Don't breathe."

"Dude, come again?" Or at least, that was what Maguro wanted to say. In truth, all he got out was a muffled grunt behind the big furry fluffyness gagging him.

Instead of responding to his completely audible question like a respectable squirrel-bear, Risukuma waved a paw at the outline of a familiar red-head that Maguro knew like the back of his hand.

Ringo stepped out of the smoke, wearing a gas mask and donning some sort of vacuum on her back. She switched it on, and immediately a whirring and a sucking sound swept up the air around them. The fatal smoke sucked into the vaccuum with a clean swoop and Maguro could feel the tension in the atmosphere dying down.

"I think that's all of it," Ringo's voice crackled through the mask. "Might want to give it a few, though, just to be safe."

Unfortunately for Maguro, he couldn't 'give it a few' as he only just got to hear the first part of that sentence before the lack of air suffocated him and black spots danced over his eyes.

He actually thought he could see a light through his bangs when suddenly his lungs decided to work again and his throat tasted freedom. Falling to his knees, he gasped and gulped in sweet, hopefully non-contaminated air. His mouth tingled from the absence of the paw and his head was spinning. Vaguely, out of the corner of his eyes he could tell Ringo had knelt down beside him.

"Uh, Ris, I think you broke him."

"Oh dear... I only meant to save him from breathing in that foul smoke. A whiff of that, and his lungs would probably deteriate slowly from the acid and-"

"Yeah, got it."

"De-deteriate slowly, huh?" Maguro coughed. "Guess I'll take being smothered to death rather than that⭐."

Ris helped the boy up with the same paw he gagged him with. "Glad you understand. The experiment I was just recently working on would have purified the air around us and separated the H2O with other particles to create an instead infinite supply of water, an important factor while adventuring, especially for you two."

"But...?"

Ringo laughed sheepishly. "Well... turns out I powered the machine too high and..." she splayed her fingers and made a blowing sound with her lips.

"It blew up." Maguro concluded. "Not like that's a first or anything⭐."

Ringo pouted at him, _unnecessarily_ cutely. "Hey, I can't help it if Risu-flippin-kuma can't give directions properly! Just be glad you weren't here skipping last hour to help. I'm never playing assistant to Ris ever again."

"Be glad? To not skip school? Helloooo?" Maguro waved a palm across her face. "Did you breathe in some of that smoke after all?"

"Oh shut up." Ringo's face turned as red as her hair. "I just saved your sorry hide."

"Hm... you did? Cuz I remember you saying you started the whole thing in the first place⭐." Maguro flashed her a cheeky grin before Ringo shoved him.

She walked away with a huff. Maguro smirked and follow after, knowing that she wasn't really annoyed with him, just being overly dramatic. A day without seeing your best friend can truly remind you how much you despise and love them at the same time. Ris followed shakily and sighed after seeing the mess the explosion caused.

Scratching his head, he grabbed a broom. "Boy, oh boy... Another failure. The third one in a week. What in Puyo am I doing wrong... Maybe I should start pursuing a different career... Like plumbing. I've heard that's quite the sophisticated job..."

 _Okay, time to intervene. I'm sure the Mario bros don't need any competition._ Maguro turned and patted his older friend's shoulder. "Hey, hey, whoah. I'm sure you'll get it the next time. Ya know, when Wattson tried to make the lightbulb-"

"Edison?"

"Yeah, him. When Edison tried to make the lightbulb, he failed thousands of times, ya know⭐? But when the press asked him about it, he said-"

"I didn't fail. I found a thousand ways how not to make a lightbulb." Ris sighed and muttered. "I understand, though..."

"Come on, pal. Since when do squirrel-bears give up?"

Ris gave him a forlorn glance, appeared to be lost in thought, before straightening up and saying. "Since never...?"

"Exactly."

"Blrrighingmsf..." Ris spaced out before shrugging. "Anywho, that makes me feel a little better. Many thanks, Maguro."

His friend gave him a wide, million-dollar-smile: one of his trademarks. "Here to help, man- er, Ris. It's what I do⭐."

"If you two are done..." Ringo stood dangerously close behind Maguro and glared at the two guys. "There's kind of a big problem."

A big problem. Considering all of the excitement of the past few months, what with traveling to other worlds, meeting strangely clad humans, ghosts, and acorn-frogs, and playing a rather strange game called Puyo Puyo, a big problem could mean anything.

Maguro peered over Ringo's shoulder. On the nearest table, a strange object was levitating. "What is that?"

Ringo walked over to it, tapping her chin. "Hmm... I don't know. It's most certainly not a Puyo, so we didn't accidentally teleport to Amitie's world again..."

Maguro followed suite, Ris in tow. The said object was a floating orb, crackling and sizzling with blue energy. It closely resembled electricity, but it didn't radiate any heat when Maguro passed his hand above it. In fact, it appeared to be more like a pit of energy. The molecules in the air sucked into the sphere.

"Do you reckon it's a tiny black hole?" Ris asked. "That sucks in... air?"

Ringo giggled. "Don't be ridiculous. A black hole that size would still cause the gravity to warp, folding us and everything within the next hundred miles. Naw, it looks like some kind of magic source."

Maguro rolled his eyes. Not that anyone would have saw. "Does everything you say have to be snarky?"

"Shh." Ringo ignored the question, as she often does when she's being called out. Maguro gave Ris a shrug and knelt down to further examine the orb.

"...Did we make this?" Maguro finally asked.

"It appears so. Or, rather, we brought it here from another dimension." Ris propped his elbow on the table. "We should wait and test it to see if its-"

Ringo had reached out her hand and proceeded to touch the orb, her trademark curiosity getting the better of her. "Wait!" Maguro exclaimed, but it was too late. As soon as she touched the orb, it sprang up and bounced across the room, as if suddenly jolted awake.

"-dangerous." Ris finished with a sigh. "No one ever listens to the guy in the lab coat."

The trio sprang into action. Maguro grabbed his kendama and a bowl to trap it in. Ringo, after giving Ris a sheepish grin of apology, snatched a small fly swatter. Ris carefully took one of his glass jars and stood watch by the door.

"Duck!" Ringo called as she climbed up on a table and jumped over Maguro's head, barely missing the sparky thing. Maguro obeyed, and slid over to the other side of the room where the orb was currently headed.

As the orb approached him, he feinted a grab with his kendama, than prepared to swing his bowl from behind. The orb went between his legs and straight at Ringo. Ringo skidded to a halt as the orb flew past her hair. It zoomed straight for the door, where Ris was waiting.

"Ris, get it!" exclaimed Ringo with a gasp.

Ris bared himself and shoved the lid of the jar into the flying orb. The orb sailed in the same direction and was caught in the jar. Quickly, Ris screwed on the lid.

Maguro sighed with relief and took the moment to realize the utter mess they had made catching it. Papers were scattered everywhere and vials were tipped over.

"Whew! That was close." Ringo said as she headed by Ris' side. She gave the jar one look and then sighed, her eyes cast downward. "...Sorry, Ris... Again. I'm just screwing things up today."

Ris considered her crestfallen face and then shrugged before handing the jar over to her. "Kids will be kids. As for the mess-"

Ringo's face lit up and she swiftly took the jar. "I'll help! I'll make sure this whole place is spotless."  
"I'll help too." Maguro offered. "Only if you let me see that, that is⭐."

Ringo handed the jar over to him. "Of course. I'm sorry too, Maguro, for dragging you into this. This wasn't your doing." she winced and then started fiddling with her hair like she does when she's nervous. "And for... you know... being so snappish today. Sorry. I was just mad at myself for letting this stuff happen."

"No harm done." Maguro grinned and patted her shoulder. "Except for this, though. What are we going to do with it?"

"I'd like to run some tests on it." Ris rumbled from behind. "Make sure it isn't radioactive. And, quite possibly, see if its from another world."

Ringo cleared her throat awkwardly. "A-Actually, Ris..."

"You want to study it instead?" Maguro gave her a curious tilt of his head. "Why?"  
"Well, because..." Ringo's apple-green eyes stared at the orb long and hard. "I've seen this pattern before, somewhere. If it is what I think it is, then..."

"I understand." Ris broke in.

The red-head blinked. "You do?"

Ris nodded. "You keep it. Take it home with you. See if you can remember where you've seen it before, and then let me know. Cool?"

Ringo smiled widely. "Cool! Thanks Ris! I won't let you down!"

"In that case..." Ris checked his watch. "I'll be taking my leave now. Good luck, you two."

"Bye, Ris⭐!" Maguro waved as he left.

"Yeah, buh-bye- wait, Ris! You left us with cleaning up!" Ringo complained, long after Ris was gone. Taking one good look around the room, she sighed. "I'll take the left, you take the right?"

"Sure⭐."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Later that day, Ringo and Maguro had gathered in the attic of Ringo's house. Ringo's family consisted of grocers, and the store was the bottom half of the building, while the top was the actual home.

The attic was refirnished and served as a rough hang out area for the two friends. Maguro often visited in order to show Ringo a new game he had beaten already so she could try on the older flatscreen they kept in the attic.

Today, they allowed the next few minutes of silence to befall them while they examined the jar. Or rather, Ringo did all the studying. Maguro kicked back on the couch, waiting for something to happen.

When nothing happened, he yawned with irritation. "Remind me why I'm here again⭐?"  
Ringo shushed him. "Shh. I'm getting something."

"No, you're not." Maguro pointed at the orb. "It's bouncing the exact same way that it's been doing the past ten minutes⭐. Again, why am I here?"

Ringo sighed with defeat. "Oh, I dunno. I just figured that as soon as I brought this stupid thing home, it would explode or something and I'd need your help. Well, whatever. Since nothing's happening... Time for Plan B!"  
"Plan B?" Maguro unintentionally raised an eyebrow, even though no one would have seen him.

Ringo slowly turned around with the slyest of smiles. "You were playing horror games with Ris last night, right?"

Maguro groaned. "Ringo, I swear-"

"And Ris failed in scaring you, right?"

"RINGO-"

"That settles it! It's my turn!" Ringo stood up with her hands on her hips. "We're watching a horror movie."

Maguro facepalmed. "But you HATE those!"

"I-I do not!" Ringo stuttered indignantly. "Says who?"  
"Are you seriously asking your closest friend who's known you for years what you don't like⭐?" Maguro smirked.

Ringo rolled her eyes. "The point is, smart aleck, that we can do two things at once. Try to scare you, and keep an eye on the blob. 'Sides, how bad can a movie created with dumb kids in costumes be?"

LATER

The answer: Bad. Very, very bad. Ringo was trying to hide it halfway during her choice, "The Mummy", (the old original), but it didn't get past Maguro that she was averting her eyes, covering her ears, and biting her tongue to keep from shrieking at the jumpscares.

Maguro more or less payed attention to the movie. The animation was cheesy, the effects were totally on purpose, and overall, not a very great horror pick. If he was choosing and if he was alone, he'd have gone for the new remake of "The Thing", which at least had a decent story.

After a few more jumpscare moments, Maguro sighed. "Er, Ringo..."

"No." she interrupted stubbornly.

Her friend sighed and stretched. "Okay, but don't strain yourself⭐."

"Aren't you scared?" Ringo asked him with surprise. Maguro shrugged.

"Nah, fam, not really. In all honesty, if you think about it, this is just a bunch of costumes, numbers, and zeroes. Not even very good. This movie must've been decent way back when, but now, it's just painfully obvious whenever they're trying to scare you⭐." he explained. Ringo sighed.

"Well, it was worth a shot, I guess." Ringo, downcast, stood up. "I'm going to check on the-"

CRASH!

Maguro lifted his head with interest as Ringo gasped. "What was that?!"

Maguro frowned. "You don't think it could've been the-"

"Crud." Ringo ran out of the attic and into her room, where she had stashed the orb. It had seemed like a good idea then, because the temperature was fairly chilly in the attic. Maguro hesitated before following after her, mainly because Ringo had a thing about friends being in her room before she had straightened it up.

Standing outside her closed door, he called in, "Do you need help⭐?"

Through the door, he could hear vibrations coming from her room. Along with the concerned mumbles of Ringo, and then the sound of glass breaking, he took that as a yes.

"Okay, I'm coming in-" Maguro grabbed the door handle before the door was flung open for the second time that day and he tumbled the ground.

Brushing away part of his hair, he saw Ringo standing in front of him, her face wide with terror. In front of her, the orb floated, free from its glass restraints. For a second, nobody moved.

Then the orb decided to work. It let out a loud buzzing sound and Maguro could feel the air around him getting sucked in like a vaccum. He heard a scream, and tried to stand up, but realized he couldn't. It was as if gravity had multiplied tenfold and kept him collapsed on the floor of Ringo's room.

Mustering all of his strength, he looked up, and saw Ringo getting warped and sucked into the tiny vacuum. The orb was growing steadily larger, and Maguro gurgled out a cry before Ringo was sucked into the orb.

With newfound determination for his friend, Maguro pushed himself across the floor and reached out to the orb. Instantly, he felt his body being sucked in as well. Allowing it, he saw a flash of light then nothingness.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Maguro could barely move. He was trapped in some kind of suspended animation. Opening his eyes, he tried sweeping his hair out of his eyes with a shake of his head, but even an action like that took effort.

Before him lay a... field... filled with purple and navy blue gaseous content. In the distance, stars dotted the horizon. From certain points in the plain, black blobs formed and disappated, leaving behind nothing but black dust that sprinkled the nearly nonexistant ground.

Maguro forced himself to look down. He was levitating, it seemed, in some kind of black blob. He tried to remember the past few moments. He recalled his mind racing, as strange patterns flitted past his eyes before disappearing into a void.

He thought harder. At the end of his strange journey, he remembered a fairly human shape with a wide slit of a grin.

Hm... oh yeah, Ringo!

Maguro groaned in his throat. He had to find her. This place was beyond logic, as far as he could see, and even though both of them had seen the same amounts of weirdness in their lives, Maguro could handle it. Ringo, however, could not.

He had to find her before she lost her mind. Figuratively, of course...

Right?

But first, he had to find a way out of this blob. It seemed to be sucking him in slowly, and Maguro felt an affinity towards something he haven't felt in a long time.

Was it... Could it be? Was he afraid?

No, no, of course not. He just didn't want to know what awaited him in the black depths of the strange thing he was trapped in.

Struggling, he managed to rip out his arm and his kendama from the blob. The blob, as if now realizing it was being attacked, whirred and expanded. Maguro gasped as the blob came up to his mouth. Sooner or later, he was going to run out of oxygen. At least, he thought he would.

As hard as he tried, he just couldn't fight it. For the second time, he was sucked into something.

Well, crud. I'm never going to be able to play that game I've ordered last week, Maguro thought.

He shut his eyes tightly and held his breath. He didn't open his eyes, but something felt very odd. He felt as though... He was falling.

Turning purple with holding his breath, Maguro gasped. Then sucked in air. Then gasped again. He could breathe!  
Carefully, he opened his eyes. Instantly, a blinding light scathed them. "Oh, okay, that's bright!" he hissed.

"Oh, great, I can talk now. What the heck just happened?" he mused to himself. After a quick shrug, he muttered. "Eh, who cares. I just need to figure out where Ringo is."

Looking about, after his eyes got accustomed to the blinding light, he noticed he was in a very familiar place. Fields upon fields of flowers awaited him, along with a stone path that led to a rustic old windmill. Wait... This looked like the flower garden in Primp town!

"What am I doing-"

"AHHH!" A screech broke him out of his thoughts. He spun around and saw a very familiar human as well.

"Ringo!" he sighed with relief. "Hey! Hey, Ringo, over here⭐! Wait-"

He blinked. Ringo was here, that was for sure, but she was not following Newton's Laws very well. She was upside down in the sky, trying to run, and spinning. Behind her, a bunch of Puyos were bouncing along in the sky, as if there were some kind of upside down invisible walkway there.

"Uh... Ringo?" he asked, scratching his head. "Is that you?"

He tried to take a step forward, but then realized...

"Oh, I'm floating too." his foot went right through the ground, as if he were a ghost. "A ghost, huh..."

He splayed his arms and air-swam towards Ringo.

As soon as Ringo noticed him, she squeaked. "Ahh! More figments of my imagination! Get away, Maguro from my subconscience!"  
"Whoah, whoah, hey." Maguro looked insulted. "Do I look like a figment of your imagination to you⭐?"

"Oh great." Ringo curled into a ball and shook her head. "Now my subconscious is talking to me. I'm going insane."

All around them, the Puyos bounced angrily. Maguro sighed and whipped out his kendama. "Okiedokie! Guess I'll have to prove it to you⭐."  
He struck the first Puyo with the ball and it was shoved into the second one. He did this in the same fashion for the other ones, until the four Puyos began popping in short little chains.

"And... there! Lightning Drop⭐!" After all the Puyo were cleared, Maguro brushed off his pants, as see-through as the rest of him. "See, Ringo? 100% real⭐!"

"That doesn't prove anything! Those Puyos are obviously a part of my mind, too!"

"Oh, for crying out... here." Maguro grabbed her arm and helped her stand up. "See? I'm more or less physical."

Ringo thought about this for a long minute before slapping him. Maguro flinched back with a gasp.

"Okay, what was that for?!"  
Ringo seemed satisfied. "I can hit you. That further proves I'm not crazy. So you're really here, Maguro?"

"Uh, I dunno, you tell me!" Maguro rubbed his cheek with irritation.

Ringo thought for a moment. "Cool. I'm good now. Are we ghosts?"  
Maguro shrugged. "Maybe? But then, why am I still holding my kendama?"  
"Hmm..." Ringo forced herself to float to the ground. "But then..."

Suddenly, Maguro could hear voices in the distance. "Hey look⭐." he said to the red head.

In the center of the flower field, three people were arguing. Maguro floated above them, prepared to ask where they were, when he heard Ringo suck in a breath from behind him.

"M-M-M..." she covered her mouth. Maguro gave her an odd look.

"What's up?"

"L-look... Those kids..."

"The...?" Maguro peered closer at the kids, and realized they looked EXTREMELY familiar. "Wait, those two-"

"They look like us!" Ringo exclaimed, floating next to him. Maguro could see that she was right. A redhead was getting in between a certain purple-haired fellow being scolded by a strange shadowy guy.

"Not just look like... they are us⭐." Maguro breathed, fascinated.

Ringo immediately went into her logic mode. "B-but, how is this possible?! Have we been replaced? Could we have gone through a time warp? CAN we go through a time warp?! I didn't know those existed!"  
"We didn't know a lot of things existed before running into Amitie and Arle." Maguro pointed out. "Look who else is there."

"Is that ECOLO?!" she exclaimed. Her mind was officially blown, Maguro could tell. "Let's listen in! Maybe we can figure out what's going on here."

"My thought exactly⭐." Maguro grew silent to watch the strange interaction unfold.

"...I don't get it!" The blob shouted. It, sorry, Maguro nearly forgot his particular pronouns... ey growled in frustration. "Why do you exist anyways?! You poser! You can just enchant whatever you want to fall in love!"

Maguro tilted his head. It seemed as though Ecolo was referring to Maguro's "thing"... his special love-inducing, beautiful eyes. That's a story for another time, though.

Ringo, or, the smaller Ringo pushed between them. "Hold it! It's not Maguro's fault in the least!"

"You stupid-face!" Ecolo cried, disheartened. "Ringo doesn't deserve you!"  
"Now, that's just childish." The little Ringo scolded em.

Ghost Maguro and Ringo glanced at each other. "This is all sounding very familiar." Ringo mused. "Was this when we went on a spree, trying to test your eyes out on whomever would pass us by?"

"Wrong. This is when YOU went on a spree, and I was the unwillling participant⭐." Maguro cracked a grin.

"Either way, we know one thing. This is the past." Ringo said. "The question is now, how do we get out of here?"  
"You suck! I hate you!" Ecolo shouted at a very overwhelmed little Maguro. And with that, ey dashed away into the air.

Ringo gasped. "Quick, catch em! Ey are dimensional travelers, ey can get us out of here!"

The present Ringo and Maguro flew after Ecolo. They found em in a field, desolate and alone. Ey was crushing flowers with eir blobby fists and appeared to be on the verge of crying.

"Whoah." Maguro said with a frown. "I didn't realize how harshly... ey took to that conversation."

No matter how many times Maguro used those pronouns, they still sat funny on his tongue. It took most of his willpower not to say they, but ey. Ringo had it down flat, she was smart girl.

"Yeah..." Ringo stepped slowly to the ground. "Let's be gentle when we ask em."

They walked up to Ecolo, who was muttering. "Stupid pretty boy... Ruining everything... What's he got that I don't... Well, he's human, I guess... Human?"  
Ey lifted eir head at the last word, intrigued. "Hm."

At that moment, ey turned around, prepared to fly away. Ey faltered when ey saw the present Ringo and Maguro standing there.

"YOU!" ey shouted. At that moment, the landscape around them began to crack and fall apart. Maguro quickly grabbed Ringo's hand, so they could stick together.

As everything fell into darkness, all Maguro could see was the menacing smile of Ecolo, like the Cheshire cat. But even that, too, disappeared.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Maguro kept his eyes squeezed shut as wind whipped around his face, brushing his bangs out of the way. He knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that nobody was around to see his beautiful face and eyes, but he didn't want to risk it.

He could feel Ringo clenching his hand harder and harder as the traveling grew more and more stir-crazy. He felt for her. She must be absolutely terrified right now, but she thrust it down inside her so she didn't appear weak.

He was aware of a flash of light and a sucking noise as gravity became stable again. Maguro and Ringo tumbled to the strange purple plains from earlier in a heap.

"Oof... Mark me down as someone who doesn't want to do that again." Maguro gasped with a humorless laugh.

Ringo was splayed out under him. "Get off me, ya big lug!"

"Sorry." Maguro jumped up and looked around. "What just happened?"

Ringo groaned and sat up slowly. "And where's EcolooooAHHH!"

She stumbled back and pointed in front of her. Ecolo was grinning down at her, but something seemed off. Maguro noticed that ey were fading into the shadows. But just as he was about to say something, Ecolo breathed in and out of nowhere, hundreds of shadows clumped together. A normal, living, breathing Ecolo remained.

Ringo did not take this sudden transformation too well. "AH- wh- huh- you- wait!" she called as Ecolo smiled eir drooling smile and giggled. Ey started to fly away without a word.

"Well, that was weird." Maguro summed up. "And to think ey didn't even say anything about fun."

"We have to catch em!" Ringo announced, standing up. "Ey are our only source of information!"

And with that, the two friends chased after the flying space blob. Very soon, Maguro noticed that the plains weren't really made for being ran on. With ever step he bounced like it was a thin sheet of rubber.

Ringo sped up. "Hey, Ecolo! Come on, this is no time for fun and games!"

Ecolo, who was right above them, just grinned down. "Catch me if you can!" ey called. Well, there you go, Maguro thought. Guess ey was Ecolo after all.

Maguro could see out of his bangs that the black blobs dotting the land were being drawn in by a strange force. He wondered if Ecolo's energy was tied to the land... But there was no more time for wondering, as Ecolo had abruptly halted in front of another black blob.

Thousands of shadows poured out of Ecolo and took on Ecolo-like forms, separating into different blobs. Ringo skidded to a halt and scanned the area wildly. "Which one do we follow?"

"The original!" Maguro pointed at the first Ecolo, now shadow-like as well, disappearing into a blob. "Come on, let's go!"

Ringo was the one who grabbed his hand this time and prepared to jump in. Maguro was surprised at her sudden courage. "You ready?"

"Of course!"

And with that, they jumped into the blob. Maguro felt the blob sucking over his head as he was plunged into darkness, but out of the black, a scene began to unfold.

Maguro and Ringo stood, or rather, floated, outside of Risukuma's shack. Ringo let go of his hand and proceeded to bring her hand to her chin in her trademark thinking pose.

Maguro wondered if she even knew she had a trademark pose. Ah, whatever.

"So, I think I've come up with a standard conclusion for what is happening." she began. "The plain outside... is like a bank. To store memories. These black bubbles... are certain memories. Let's dub them memory bubbles."

"...And?" Maguro prompted.

Ringo frowned. "I still don't know who's memories these belong to, or why a bunch of shadow Ecolos are invading them. And something about Ecolo... I feel like the way we got stuck in this place has to do with em. Don't ask me how I know, it's just a hunch."

"Oh yeah!" Maguro tapped his foot on the in-tapp-able ground. "How did we get here, though? Weren't we sucked into that strange blue orb?"

Ringo snapped her finger. "Wait, that orb-! I think I know what-"

A loud crash broke her train of thought. Maguro floated to the window of Ris's house. "Whoah. Check this out."

Inside, a huge disco ball lit up on the cieling. Guests filled up the space with dancing and laughter. Ris was in the middle, being raised up by... YOUNGER Ringo and Maguro. He had pink frosting and cake bits all over his fur, as if he had dove into a cake.

Ringo peered in closer. "Hey, look! It's our friends from Primp Town!"

Maguro peered also and spotted Amitie, Lemres, and Feli passing out sweets to the party guests. Sig was dozing off in the corner, Lidelle was over by TaruTaru and Minotauros. and Raffine was gathered with... was that Rulue? And Draco Centauros! They were standing on a table, showing off their outfits.

"Looks like Arle brought her friends along, too!" Maguro pointed out Arle and Carbuncle in a curry eating contest. Half of Schezo's face was covered in cream pie, as if someone had thrown it at him. Klug was behind him, looking thoroughly annoyed that some of the cream had sprinkled on his book.

The room was almost too dark, but Maguro heard flute music from the corner. And arrow whizzed past Maguro's nose. Looks like Panotty and Archan made it too, or at least, he thought they did. He had never met them.

"Safe to say everyone is here?" Ringo asked, interrupting his examination. Maguro nodded. They didn't have all day to find the guests.

"But what about..." Maguro broke off as Arle and younger Ringo began walking to the window.

"...So where's Satan?" Small Ringo asked. Arle shook her head.

"I mean, I tried to invite him... but he suddenly ran off in a flash, saying:" her voice lowered to a false bass. "'I don't have time for some silly bear's birthday party! I have to prepare for my precious Arly's birthday! Don't worry, my dear, it will be the best party ever', blah, blah, blah..." Arle sighed. "My birthday is not for a few months now."

"Ohhh..." Real Ringo muttered to Maguro. "So this is Ris's birthday party. I remember now!"

Younger Ringo patted her shoulder. "At least you tried. I couldn't even find Ecolo. You know how much ey loves to have fun, so I was planning on inviting em, as long as ey behaved... but the fellow just has to be a dimensional traveler. Ey could be anywhere!"

Arle switched the topic. "How old is Ris, anyway?"

Ringo grimaced. "We do not ask such things in this house." they giggled and turned away from ghostie Ringo and Maguro.

Maguro turned to his friend. Ringo's face was downcast, and she appeared... especially guilty. "I feel so bad about that. I wish I could've found Ecolo."

"Nothing you can do now." Maguro ruffled her hair. "Keep moving forward."

Out of the corner of his eye, Maguro suddenly spotted a flash of blue. "Speak of the devil..." he murmured.

He pointed, and Ringo got the memo. Quietly, the floated over to the other side of the house, where they saw Ecolo watching through a window. Maguro halted, and examined Ecolo's face. He looked hurt, angry even, but most of all, he just appeared to be... lonely.

Suddenly, Maguro felt bad for the sad space blob. Sure, Ecolo hated his guts, but deep down, Maguro wondered how alike he and Ecolo really were. All Ecolo wanted was to have fun with eir friends.

Ringo seemed to hesitate too. The friends glanced at each other before approaching Ecolo.

Maguro cleared his throat. Ecolo jumped from the windowsill and glared at the real Maguro and Ringo. Ringo stepped forward. "Ecolo! We have some questions for you!"

Ecolo's mouth twisted upward, any trace of eir loneliness gone. "Nuh-uh, Ringie! That's not how the game works!" with that, ey sprung up into the air. "Gotta catch me first!"

Ringo growled with frustration. "We just did!" she shouted. With that, she floated shakily after em. Maguro followed, but soon he began to notice something...

"Hey, Ringo? Look."

They were high above the ground now. But in the middle of the air, Puyos began to appear and pop as soon as they did. Ecolo laughed loudly as Ringo and Maguro halted in confusion.

"Have fun, you two!"

Suddenly, Puyos began to pour out of nowhere. A huge mountain stood in the way of Ringo and Maguro. Ringo growled again. "An obstacle! That Ecolo is making this unfair!"

"Ecolo did this?" Maguro peered up at the grinning face of Ecolo, watching them expectantly. "How?"

"Ey are dimensional travelers- there are ways." Ringo frowned. "But are ey stalling for time, or do ey want a spectacle? What is Ecolo's goal here?"

"This is Ecolo we're talking about. Ey wants a spectacle." Maguro replied, pulling out his kendama. "Let's get to work, then!"

Ringo just prepared to run into the fray of puyo. Her style of puyo popping more had to do with thinking about long elaborate chains and and making sure they popped just the way she wanted them to. It worked, at least.

"Swing In!" he swung his kendama, bouncing a couple of puyos together. They popped nicely.

"Sine! Cosine!" Ringo followed up his cry with a pause as her hands whirred, separating puyos and pushing others together.

"Swing In! Lightning Drop!" Maguro ran around the tower of puyo, his kendama ball bouncing each puyo it touched into oblivion.

"Tangent!"

"Moon Circle!"

"Algorithm!"

"Earth Turn!"

The tower steadily declined. Maguro flipped backwards and brushed his foot against a row of puyo, which de-escalated into a chain popping mess. With a grin, he brushed his bangs back into place. That was a move he'd been practicing that he saw in a video game.

Then again, it wasn't that difficult when you're floating. But he could do that in real life too.

Ringo's hands flew. She worked like a machine, matching and popping, until she had a giant scale of nine... no, ten, fifteen chains. More than that?

As they popped, the tower cleared up. All that remained was Ecolo's grinning face.

"Thank you, Ringo!"

And with that, the memory began to fold in on itself. Back to the purple plains, the trio went.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

"Blurgh..." Maguro opened his eyes to find his stomach curled up in knots. "Geez... I feel like I'm gonna puke...⭐"

He lifted his head slowly. Ringo was sitting on the ground beside him, shaking her head. After a long groan she stood up, wildly searching the strange land in they've become so used to seeing.

"Ringo? Are you feeling this cruddy too?⭐" Maguro stood up, holding his stomach.

Ringo frowned at the ground, but any signs that she felt sick were unnoticeable. "Yeah, actually. That ride through the memory bubble was much, much more rough than last time. It's strange." After a moment of pondering, she looked up. "Nevermind that. Where's Ecolo?"

Maguro flipped his bangs out of his face for a second to thoroughly scan the area. "I dunno. I betcha ey split after seeing how we demolished that tower of Puyo ey threw at us, eh?⭐" he grinned and nudged her ribs with his elbow.

Ringo looked slightly panicked at the fact. "Ey couldn't have! If we can't find em... there's no way that we're ever going to get any answers! We have to find em. Come on, Maguro, let's-"

As she started to walk off, Maguro grabbed her arm. "Hey, hey, hold on there.⭐ Calm down. You know you're not thinking straight."

Ringo sighed and her arm went slack. "I know. You're right. I'm an idiot. I'm just... Okay, the fact that I have no idea what's going on or what our next course of action is... it makes me jumpy. I'll calm down." She took a deep breath. "Ecolo couldn't have gotten far, remember the last time ey teleported us to this field? Ey had to take a few moments to... conjure together, to reform. A whole bunch of shadows of Ecolo swarmed out of the memory bubbles in this plain to form a more physical form of the Ecolo we know. If ey are anywhere, ey're probably..."

She swung around suddenly, dragging Maguro with her. "There!"

Right above the bubble they had just jumped out of, Ecolo floated there, drawing in distortions of light and shadow Ecolo apparitions until the fog cleared.

"Hey, Ecolo!⭐" Maguro waved at em. Ecolo's light sockets for eyes peered down at the duo. Ey floated down at a safe distance away from them.

"We have a whole list of questions for you, Ecolo!" Ringo exclaimed. "I hope you're ready to pay attention!"

Ecolo gave off eir crooked grin. "No offense, Ringie, but why should I pay attention to you guys? You lot have to keep playin the game!"

"Well, uh..." Ringo thought about it.

"Guess if you don't have an answer to that, I can't help ya. Oh well! See ya later-"

"Hold it!⭐" Maguro swung his kendama right at Ecolo. It whistled right through eir gaseous body.

Ecolo looked back at the purple boy and started to giggle uncontrollably. "Hee he hee... Oh, silly pretty boy, you KNOW I can't be that easily swayed! Hilarious! The human actually thought he could stop me with a toy! I'm dying here, fish man, you really-"

"NOW!"

Ecolo hurked as Ringo and Maguro threw themselves at the gaseous shape. The smoke scattered across the ground and Maguro swung his ball and string around to keep a slight wind blowing so Ecolo couldn't piece eirself back together.

"H-HEY!" Ecolo's voice cracked from under them. "NO FAIR! It takes FOREVER to reshape my form! CHEATERS! YOU AREN'T PLAYING FAIR!"

"WE DON'T CARE!" Ringo shouted, heating up steadily as Ecolo's voice whined. "And we're not letting you reform until you answer our questions!"

"Yeah!⭐" Maguro said with a grin. "Oh, and by the way, nice job with the monologue. I was counting on your gloating for this to happen.⭐"

"Are you going to cooperate now, Ecolo? Or do you want us to keep blowing away your particles?" Ringo asked.

The voice of Ecolo griped and moaned before muttering. "Fine."

"Good. Okay, so..." Ringo thought for a moment. "Right. Where are we?"

"Memory rift."

"Excuse me?"

"You lot are in my memory rift." Ecolo grumbled.

Maguro glanced at Ringo. "Do ey mean eir mind? Cuz I'm pretty sure the mind is where your memories are supposed to be.⭐"

Ecolo's smoke whooshed irritably. "Course not, stupid. Dimensional travelers don't have disgusting BRAINS like you humans do. Gosh, you're an idiot."

"Hey!⭐"

"Ecolo." Ringo chided. "It's not nice to call Maguro an idiot. Or stupid."

"WELL HE IS-"

"Ecolo." Ringo's voice lowered dangerously. "Do you want to reform or not?"

"Fine! Fine. Sorry." Ecolo whisked about below them, no doubt wanting to be rid of the two humans blocking eir reformation progress. "Yeah, so, I don't have a mind. Well, at least not in the way you humans do. I have a... uh... what's that kitchen object called..."

"You have a kitchen object for a mind?⭐" Maguro raised an eyebrow.

"It's uh... like the thing you pour water into... and... it makes the water taste good... or something, I dunno, I see Ringie use it a lot-"

"Wait, a lot? When?!" Ringo glared at the smoke.

"I think he means a water filter.⭐" Maguro offered, but Ringo was too agitated to listen to him.

"Ecolo, how on Earth are you able to know when I'm using a water filter?" Ringo exclaimed.

Ecolo swirled about, ignoring the question. "Anyways, yeah, the water filter are the words I'm lookin for. So... My mind is like a water filter. You dump a whole buncha thoughts and memories inside of it, right? Just like a brain. But, see, when I travel between dimensions, the memories condense and filter down into my memory rift. And if you could just GET OFF OF ME I could show you where it is-"

"Nice try, but you just said we're inside it." Ringo reminded em.

"And you still haven't explained WHAT it is. Why don't you just call it your mind?⭐" Maguro asked, the pieces not quite clicking yet.

Ecolo let out a sharp bark of laughter. "For a guy who SUPPOSEDLY has the power to make people FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM, you're not very charming in the brains department, are ya?"

Ringo swiped at the fog angrily. "Ecolo, take that ba-"

"Naw, naw, it's okay, Ringo." Maguro grabbed her arm gently. "The guy's right, after all, it's you and Ris who really hold the spotlight when it comes to smarts. I'm just the guy with the hobbies.⭐"

"But, Maguro-" Ringo shook her head in astonishment. "How are you not offended?"

"I've seen this before. He's trying to distract us, buy himself time. And what better way to do so than to pick on the least likable of the duo here?⭐ Am I right, Ecolo?⭐" Maguro nodded at the smoke. "See, ey're attempting to reform between us."

As Ringo looked down, the smoke immediately pulled itself together between human limbs and the purple ground.

"Darn it." Ecolo hissed as Ringo began to frantically wave at the smoke. "Stupid pretty boy. If I answer your questions will ya let me go?"

"Yes." Ringo nodded.

Ecolo's smoke shuddered. "Okay, fine. So what's the difference between a mind and a memory rift? A memory rift is like a storage unit, and if my memories DON'T condense into the rift, they'll be forgotten forever whenever I travel interdimensionally. That's why that girl... Red Hat Girl? She lost her memories because the travel to our Suzuran High tore them apart the first time. However she was the only one because the others were clinging on to powerful magicians' magic. People like Stan. Or the guy-with-white-anime-hair."

"Wait, you mean Amitie?" Ringo cocked her head. "I almost forgot that she had suffered a minor case of amnesia. And you did too, much, much later, Ecolo."

"Yeah, see? Anyways, moving on. A mind is something more active, that involves the senses and bodily functions as well, it can't be visited by the owner. A memory rift can be visited by the owner, and if the owner wishes, by other persons. Erego, you are here."

Ecolo raised smoky fists for dramatics. "In my memory rift. Awesome, huh?"

Ringo and Maguro glanced at each other. "... Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ringo asked slowly.

Maguro shrugged. "That Ecolo can actually sound smart and hold a mature conversation for more than five minutes?⭐"

"Yeah. No. Yeah, but- anyways, Ecolo, are you the one who trapped us in here in the first place?"

Silence.

"Ecolo." Ringo warned.

Silence.

"Okay, that's it. Ecolo, WHY'D YOU TRAP US IN HERE?!"

Suddenly, a large blast of wind knocked the duo backwards. Ringo shrieked for half a second before landing on the squishy ground with a bounce. Maguro rolled out of the way, and looked up, surprised to see a fully reformed Ecolo giggling at them.

"Okay, that's enough questions for now, I think!" Ecolo stretched and yawned. "It was fun, but I have to say, being forced to stay in separated particles was NOT an experience I want to partake in again!"

"ECOLO!" Ringo shouted at em, scrambling to her feet.

"Hey wait!⭐" Maguro followed suite, whipping out his kendama.

"You really wanna know why you're here? Why I bothered with you two in the first place? You're gonna have to keep playing the game then. Keep following me, and you will see!" Ecolo sang and immediately sped off across the field.

"Wh-whoah! He's fast!" Ringo gasped. Maguro blinked. The Ecolo was just a dot in the distance now.

After a few seconds of silence, Maguro cleared his throat. "We should go after him.⭐"

"Y-yeah. Of course." Ringo frowned uncertainly. "It's just, isn't that exactly what he wants?"

"Got any other ideas, then? I don't think interrogation mode is going to work on him again. How else will we get out of here, unless we play by his rules for a little while?⭐" Maguro suggested, growing easily tired by the information and questions they've recieved and had given.

Ringo frowned. Then she stomped on the ground so hard that Maguro could feel the tremors under his feet. "I don't PLAY by ANYONE'S rules. I'm not a puppet, Maguro. Ecolo is just... so... infuriating!"

"I-I know that." Maguro stepped back in surprise. "I know that better than anyone. But... If it's to get outta here-"

"No. Not happening. "

"...Okay, well..." Maguro scratched his head. "What should we do, then?⭐"

"We're going to catch em. Make em take us back by force. We've caught em once before, with our bare hands. We just need to find something that will hold em."

"Like magic?"

Ringo shook her head. "No, not magic... Do you recall back in that Puyo battle where Ecolo wanted a spectacle?"

"Yeah. That happened like twenty minutes ago."

"Well, yeah- okay, smart aleck- Anyways, when the Puyos popped, where did the magic that was released go? To pop more Puyo, right? Well, I noticed something... instead of powering up my attacks, the magic was pulled in a different direction. The magic was pulled into Ecolo. Or Ecolo's shadow. I have a feeling that ey were storing it or fueling emself up with it."

"So what you're saying is that magic will pass right through em, and, or, make Ecolo stronger if we try to bind em with magic."

"Yep." Ringo gazed off into the distance. "We'll need a more familiar substance to ensnare em. Something ey aren't used to..."

"Like...⭐"

"Um..."

"..."

"..."

Maguro shook his bangs, an idea popping into his brain. "How about this: Let's just do it the old fashioned way, pop into a memory bubble, maybe grab something that'll work, and keep going?⭐ Nice and simple."

"Simple? That could take forever!" Ringo exclaimed.

Maguro grinned. "See, that's where you're wrong. Ecolo is a dimensional traveler, right? Ey probably has some INSANE memories in this place⭐. It will be super easy to find something strange enough, or powerful enough, to ensnare em!⭐"

Ringo brightened up, but then immediately dimmed. "You forget that these are Ecolo's memories. So everything in the memories ey have either seen or had contact with."

"Not everything! Come on, Ringo, ey barely knew what a water filter was. How hard can it be?⭐" Maguro patted her shoulder. "Just like old times. Just you and me on another grand adventure to get the heck out of this place, eh? How's that sound?⭐"

"Well..." Ringo murmured. "It certainly sounds better than wandering aimlessly, searching for Ecolo like a lost puppy and having no course of action."

"That's the spirit!⭐" Maguro hopped on the plain. "Come on! I call that memory bubble!⭐"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

"Boring!⭐" Maguro shouted suddenly. A squabble of birds from a nearby tree sprang up with a loud entourage of annoyed squawking. Ringo bit her tongue and gave her friend a harsh look.

"We've been walking- sorry, _floating_ , I forgot we technically don't exist here -around this endless forest for forever..." The boy continued, swinging his arms. "... And there is literally no sign of anything, anywhere!"

"Your idea." Ringo reminded at him. "Besides, we've been walking for only five minutes. Get a hold of yourself, Fish breath."

Maguro muttered something and twiddled with his kendama. "You'd think that for an interdimensional space traveler, Ecolo would have picked more exciting places to visit! Rather than... a bunch of stupid trees. Stupid, plain old memory bubble... Man, if I could travel like em? I bet you fifty bucks that somewhere out there, Battlefield 9 exists."

Ringo turned back toward the path with a roll of her eyes. "I'm willing to take that bet. Now come on, we have to find something that can stop Ecolo-" she paused mid-sentence.

"Not only that, but... man, what if there's a universe for every video game that ever existed?" Maguro scratched his head, oblivious to whatever caught Ringo's attention. "Oh my gosh, what if there's an alternate reality with an alternate you? And me? Haha, what if you were the one with the "gorgeous eyes". Wouldn't that be crazy?⭐"

"Uh-huh." Ringo nodded, distracted.

"I bet you'd use them on everyone. Claim it was for science or something like that."

"Yep."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Yep. Nope." Ringo was kneeling on the ground, peering at something.

Maguro knelt down beside her with an incredulous sigh. "Usually you're all over that existence junk. Bunch of psychological phenomenons and all that, it's all you and Klug talk about when you run into each other.⭐ What's so important that you're not..." his voice trailed off as he gazed at the object in the dirt.

"Oh... my... god. Is that?"

Ringo shuffled around so the sun could hit the object just right. The light bounced off of it in a soft sparkly fit, a gold fit.

" _Gold_?" Ringo breathed.

"No way.⭐" Maguro shook his head. "There's no way gold that huge could just be lying about here, where anyone could pick it up."

"This is merely a memory," Ringo reminded him. "Who knows what kind of strangeness exist here?"

"Do you think I can..." He reached out to touch the glittering temptation, and rubbed his finger. The gold, instead of passing through his finger, was solid. "Whoah, whoah, wait. I can touch it!⭐" He sounded in awe, and Ringo gaped at the beautiful find.

"That's unbelievable." Ringo murmured. "All this time, we could touch solid objects?" She quietly patted a nearby tree, affirming her suspicions. "...Wait, so can we walk normally, then?" She peered down at her still floating legs and willed herself lower to the ground. With a tentative touch she tipped-toed on a rock. Maguro glanced at her friend, who gasped with surprised delight.

Ringo was nearly crying. "Oh, sweet solid ground. How I've missed you..." She lowered herself completely and steadied herself. Maguro followed suite, and sucked in his breath at the odd sensation of being able to walk and follow the laws of gravity once again.

"This is so strange. How come we're able to touch the surroundings all of a sudden?" Maguro mused.

Ringo, as always, had a theory. "Perhaps the longer we stay in Ecolo's memories, the more solid we become. Or, maybe because we're fresh in Ecolo's mind, we're all ey think about. Who knows? We sure weren't able to do this before."

"Huh." Back to what's important- the gold. "Memory bubble or not, gold can't be just lying around like this. Something smells real fishy.⭐" Maguro scrunched up his nose.

Ringo let out a loud snort and a chuckle. "Fishy." she whispered.

Ignoring his friend's love for terrible puns, Maguro leaned down to examine the so-called gold. He rubbed it with his thumb, and the dust was not rubbing off on him. He picked it up and weighed it in his hands. It fit the entire palm and weighed the same as a big brick. Gold or not, it was one of the most beautiful stones he had ever seen. "It's the size of my hand!⭐"  
Ringo looked around suspiciously. "It's obvious it's not from the forest. It's smooth, like it's been above surface for a while and it belongs to someone."

"Maybe it's fools gold. Maybe it's cursed." Maguro checked his skin. Nope, no curses, he looked perfectly normal for an unusually beautiful human.

Ringo stood up. "Well, whatever it is, it came from somewhere, from someone. That means that there's people here. Let's keep moving, maybe we'll find them."

"I'm down for finding anyone who carries around as much gold as this." Maguro gave Ringo a toothy grin. "Let's see, my Maguro senses are tingling... in that direction!⭐" he pointed to the left, deeper in the woods. The path was all but gone, covered with an entanglement shrubs and thorns.

"Are you serious? Who would want to be off the path _that_ badly?" Ringo raised an eyebrow.

"You have no idea. Smugglers, for one. To keep their tracks hidden. Second, whoever has this much gold, definitely would want to steer clear of the actual road. To avoid highway robbery and such.⭐" Maguro pointed out smugly.

"And what video game did you conjure up that information, huh?" Ringo shot back at him slyly, but shrugged. "But you're not wrong. Okay, let's go your way. Just remember why we're here in the first place- to find something that can either capture Ecolo or break open eir memory rift so we can escape. Not just for gold. Right?"

"Right. No gold. Got it.⭐"

'''''''''''

After a few minutes of painful trudging through the brambles, Maguro quietly cursed himself for being so ridiculously smart. Shrubbery and more shrubbery, that's all there was to this stupid forest. What if they were going in circles? What if the "potential" person who "potentially" dropped a fist sized lump of gold, didn't even treck in this direction? The worst case scenario was that they would find absolutely nothing, and then what? They'd have to turn back and find...

Oh no. Crud.

Maguro let out a huge groan. "Ringo?"

"Whoah, man. What's wrong?" Ringo blinked at him, confused.

"So, uh... how are we going to find our way back?"

After a moment of stunned silence, Maguro pushed back the bangs over his eyes so he could see Ringo's slightly panicked expression. But it wasn't there. Instead, she was smirking.

"Wow, I'm hurt." Ringo placed a hand over her heart. "That you would even consider me being dumb enough to forget to mark a trail."

Maguro let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. For a minute, he thought his heart would start pounding out of his chest. "Oh. You have? I totally knew that.⭐"

"Sure you did. You're adorable, Tuna Fish." Ringo pursed her lips teasingly. She pointed behind her, revealing a trail of bright white paper, snuggled amongst the branches. "I always keep a pad of paper on me whenever I feel an inspirational song coming on that I just have to write down."

"That's... smart." Maguro nodded with approval. "Hey, I haven't heard you sing any crazy tunes recently! That's a new record, how long has it been? 4 hours?⭐"

Ringo shoved him playfully. "Yeah, yeah, get a move on, Tuna Fish."

"Would you stop calling me Tu-" Maguro's nose twitched suddenly. "Hey, you smell that?"

Ringo gasped and hissed through her teeth as she plucked out yet another thorn from a nearby bramble. "Smell what? We're surrounded by pine trees. It's not the most discreet smell in the world."

"No, no, I smell... food.⭐"

Almost immediately, both of their stomachs rumbled. Ringo giggled, and then sighed. "Man, I hadn't realized how hungry I was till just now. When was our last breakfast?"

"This morning. Time seems to move real slow here in Ecolo's memories." Maguro pointed out, holding his stomach longingly. "I'm starved."

"So, you said you smelled food?"

Maguro lifted his head, trying to catch the scent of the spicy, delicious aroma he had smelled earlier. It smelled like chili, or maybe a charred cookout. He was too hungry to care. "Oh boy, that smells amazing. Come on, maybe there's a secluded hobo restaurant around here. Let's go."

"Wonderful. I've always wanted to eat at a secluded hobo restaurant." Ringo nudged him slyly. "You sure do know how to pick 'em."

"Hey, easy there.⭐" Maguro nudged her back with a small smile. "It wouldn't be the first time eating out together, don't make it weird."

Ringo rolled her eyes. "Well, now it's weird because you said it was."

The bantering halted as their stomachs grumbled again. "Okay, eat first, shoot jabbing remarks at each other later." Maguro decided. "Onward!⭐"

"Hold on. How do we know we can eat food here? This is a memory, remember?" Ringo gave him a pointed look.

"We were able to touch and pick up the gold, weren't we? Besides, it's Ecolo. What if eir memory shadows want to take something from a memory? That's what I would do if I were em." Maguro was starting to get antsy. "So. Onward?⭐"

"Fine. Onward."

The spicy aroma grew even stronger as they hiked around the bushes. Finally, as they neared the source, Maguro could hear voices.

"Civilization?" Ringo wondered out loud, craning her neck to hear better.

"We're saved!⭐" Maguro whooped and ran ahead. As he cleared the last of the dense shrubbery, he stumbled into the middle of a small clearing. In the center was a torn, run down shack, surrounded by dusty and unused knickknacks and toys. Weeds covered most of them, and any signs of flowers in the flower boxes were long gone.

Maguro stepped forward, mouth agape. He had never seen so much... stuff... in one place in his whole life! It was.. it was...

"What a load of junk." Ringo said as she caught up to him. Maguro gave her an incredulous look.

"I'm sorry- junk? Do you even know what this stuff is?" Maguro ran over to the first dusty object with glee. He turned the handle on a small can, and out from the bottom sparks ignited and floated about his face. But the sparks were in the colors of, well, any color imaginable. It was incredible. And flammable, as he soon found out. One of the sparks settled on his vest and exploded into licks of beautiful galaxy colored flame faster than he could react. He squealed unintentionally and patted the fire out, staring at the char that it left behind.

"This is fantastic!⭐" he breathed.

"I'm sorry, but, do YOU even know what this stuff is?" Ringo shot back the question as she kicked a rusty, dented metal box out of the way. It immediately sprang up 3 times its original size, making the red head yelp.

"I have absolutely no idea!⭐" Maguro laughed as he held a 25 sided... uh... what was it called? ...some kind of cube or something... and the cube folded in and folded in on itself, as if it were magic. "What's a 25 sided cube called, again?"

"A pentaicosagon." Ringo replied, distracted by a dream catcher that appeared to block the cool air from reaching her skin.

"Wow." Maguro whispered at a small chest that revealed endless nothingness. "Come on, Ringo, you have to admit, you're impressed. Right?⭐"

Ringo paused to think about it as a toy duck quacked up at her and flew into her palm. Her expression softened. "Well... yeah. I can't say no, right? I mean, half of this stuff defies the laws of physics, and... well, I kind want to take some of it home for research purposes. It's incredible," she added at Maguro's forlorn expression. "Don't get me wrong, it's way more than the junk it looks like, but... why would anyone leave these just lying out here, in the open, in the weather? It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe it is the same guy who left the gold nugget. Maybe he doesn't see the value in things." Maguro shrugged. "Who cares? We came here soley because we're hungry. Let's find the guy who owns this place and get some grub!⭐"

"After you." Ringo was still distracted, and lost in thought. Maguro walked over the old, decripit shack and stepped on the rotting porch, wincing as it creaked. The door, whatever you might call a door, was broken on the hinges, and the window next to it was caked in dust. As Maguro brushed the dust away with his shirt, he was surprised to find it made of stained glass.

Maybe someone's in here, he thought. He peered in, unsurprised to find more incredible toys that he would have to take the time to look at later. The light shone through the other windows in a dull haze, and in the corner, Maguro could make out a figure.

He leaned forward, straining to hear what the man was saying, but the glass was too thick. Next to him, Maguro spotted what appeared to be an old fashioned listening cup, coated with brass and attached to another cup.

Worth a shot. He held one cup up to his ear and the other to the door, and listened. What he got was static, until he twisted the cup gently clockwise, like the knob on a radio, to find that the static crackled into a man's deep voice.

"krsh- hey man – pshhh – when're ya comin'? I'm wastin' away in 'ere... - shh - ... no, 'course I'm not back atta last site we'd done dis. Whaddaya take me for, some kinda idiot?"

It took Maguro a few seconds to figure out the man was on the phone with someone. But who, and why?

"buzzzzz – yeah I got dem. All seventeen of dem. It won't be a – shhhh – waste of time, no. No 'o course no one followed me! I was careful. Yes, I know it's illegal, and if I get caught- Yes, they're legit! (loud sigh) Look, how 'bout dis? I'll send over one with the help of a buddy of mine. Rest assured, you won't be disappointed."

Maguro peered in the window closer. In the dull light, he could hardly see, but it appeared the man was holding up something yellow and glittering.

"Gold?" He said out loud, incredulous. Was this man plotting to smuggle gold over to his "buddy"? Wow, this place was weird to have gold be illegal. This whole scam was like something out of a 90's film...

"Who cares, Maguro, get your act together! There's food in there somewhere so, just, play it cool..." he muttered to himself.

Ringo's voice sighed over his head. "Dude, what in the world is taking so long? Just knock on the door."

"W-wait! Don't-" Maguro tried to grab her arm in alarm, but she beat him to it.

As she opened the door, Maguro winced, waiting for the man inside to shriek and likely point something dangerous at them for interrupting his con act. But nothing happened. Maguro could still here the man arguing with his friend on the phone, as if Ringo and Maguro didn't exist.

Ringo raised a confused eyebrow at Maguro. He coughed awkwardly.. "R-right. I was only, uh, trying to warn you about that loose door, cuz, it's, uh... old.⭐"

"I got that." She gave the door a disgusted look as the handle broke under her grip.

Maguro followed in after her. The obvious dust in the air tickled his nose and coated practically every object in the room. Ringo sneezed loudly, and the boy couldn't help but look at the man on the phone, waiting for a reaction. "Ringo, why isn't that guy over there noticing us? I thought we were visible and touchable to the surroundings."

"What?" Ringo peered in the dust over to where Maguro was pointing. "Oh. Yeah, you're right. I didn't even see that guy when we walked in."

Maguro couldn't help rolling his eyes. "Wow. I have no words. Back to my question, please?"

"Perhaps living creatures are different than the objects. Think about it like this, if the man could see us and talk to us, then Ecolo's memory would be all screwed up. I'm sure it's to keep law and some kind of order, kinda like the time travel rules where you can't change the time line or it could change the future. Ah, nature's way to keep everything in a precise fashion." She sighed with satisfaction. "What would we do without it?"  
Maguro's stomach growled at that moment, thankfully. "Right, cool. Let's get some food while we're here, right? Oh, and... since this is a memory..." Maguro deviously smiled and pulled out the gold nugget from his conveniently spacy pockets (how else can he carry his kendama everywhere?)

"... Let's see if we can snag more gold! I'm sure the man about to commit a felony wouldn't mind, _wouldn't_ you sir?" he waved at the man, and after a quick glance at Ringo's dissaproving stare, he laughed. "I'm just joking, juuuuust joking! Lighten up, will ya?⭐"

"Okay, funny boy. Just remember what we're really here for- something that can-"

"Entrap Ecolo or break open eir memory rift so we can escape, got it.⭐" Maguro gave a thumbs up. "Easy peasy!⭐"

Ringo turned around, already searching through cabinets. "Right."

Maguro shrugged and walked over to the man. Maguro knew he saw the man holding gold of some kind back in the window, and he definitely wanted to see for himself.

The man himself was wearing a cloak and wrapped in dust and shadow, Maguro could barely see his form in the darkness. But he could tell he was a bit bottom heavy, and so Maguro moved stealthily around him, to avoid touching him. He knew that the man couldn't see him, but being entirely invisible was a feeling that Maguro was not used to. Better to be safe than sorry, anyways.

"-no, Mu! I'm not an'where near the leanin' pillahs! Gah, can't yous get directions right- Why a' ya worryin' about where I am anyway?! I'm sendin mah friend over to ya first! Shikes, yous one paranoid connin' arteest if I swear-"

Maguro leaned against the table as the man swung his arms every which-way. He could now see a glittering goldness, right in the far corner of the table. Maguro's nose twitched. He could smell that delicious aroma again... man, he should just get some food first and then see the beautiful... priceless... gold just waiting right there in front of him...

Wow. This was really bad, he decided. I'm getting kind of crazy for this gold. Well, why not?! He could buy as many gameboy games, as many first-person shooters, as many of the vintage styled as he wanted... heck, forget video games! He could be an internet star! He could upgrade his parents fish shop and he would never have to skin another fish ever again, EVER. He'd be so rich, he'd never have to build his own outlets back in electricity-less Primp Town in the universe of no electronics, he'd hire some folks to keep quiet about the other dimension so they could build a powerhouse, just for him... so he'd never get stuck in Primp without charge again...

Without knowing it, he was still reaching out to grab the glittering object. What he didn't see was the man turning around. Or when he took two steps in Maguro's direction. Or when his wildly swinging arm made contact with Maguro's reaching hand.

Suddenly, the man's shouting paused with a crack. Maguro had just enough time to think, oh, that's not good, before the man barely whispered into the phone:

"...I'm gonna hafta call ya back, Mu."

Well, sh-

"Scuse me, kid, but whaddaya think yous doin in mah shop?" Maguro looked up through his bangs at the man. Through the dust, he could tell small beady eyes were not overjoyed to see him standing there, inches away from the table... his eyes followed his hand over to his stash of gold-like objects, and they narrowed. "You lost or somethin'?"

Maguro felt a lump in his throat and slowly redrew his arm back to his side. He kept the initial nugget of gold behind his back, though. The man folded his... strangely... shiny... arms?

"Gonna ask you again, little man. What were doin' jus now while i was on a call?"

Maguro could see behind him that the man was indeed holding not a phone, but a mirror, just like the one from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Nevermind that, how on earth can this man see him? Ohhh man, could the memory apparitions be brought to his plane of existence if he just touched him?

That would have been something he'd have loved to know sooner.

"Maguro?" Ringo's voice saved him from an awkward turn of events. "What are you doing?"

The man turned around just as Ringo was saying, "... I can't find anything in this coat of dust, so I was wondering if youaaaaAAAHHH FROG MAN! SCARY FROG MAN!" she shrieked midsentence, backing into a cabinet.

Frog man?

"Whoah whoah, hey, Dat's not ni- hey easy put dat knife down missy!"

Ringo swung a butcher's knife at him. "Stay back, frogodite! Maguro, run!"

"Uh, no it's okay..." Maguro placed his arms out in front of him. "Cool it, Ringo! I'm fine! And what do you mean, frog man?"

"He's a monster! Get away from him, you monster!" Ringo squeaked, fear obvious in her voice, as she waved the very sharp, very dangerous knife at the "frog man". He yelped, and scrambled away.

"Lezz not get hasty missy, put dat knife-" he cut off as she advanced toward him warningly and he jumped into the musty light of the cabin with a shriek. "AHH! PLEASE! SPARE ME, O CRAZY RED ONE! I COME IN PEACE AND STUFF! GO AWAY!"

"Take that!" Ringo grabbed the cloak covering his face and back and ripped it away. All three of them simultaneously flinched away in silence as Maguro took the time to process what he was seeing.

The "man" really was just a frog. A huge frog, about as tall as the ceiling, but a frog no less. He was curled in a ball, whimpering, steering away from Ringo's knife. Ringo was currently glaring at him, though her knife was shaking in her hands. After a few moments of silence, Maguro slowly pried the knife from Ringo's hands.

"It's okay, Ringo. No need for knives."

Ringo gave him a look like, are you absolutely insane, but she dropped her arms at her sides. However, she kept the knife in her skirt belt.

"Okay, so..." Maguro cleared his throat awkwardly. The frog backed into a corner. The boy was really astounded by this change in posture, as just a second ago, he had thought the frog was actually going to kill him. Well, he seemed to be in no hurry for that right now. "Hi. I'm... Maguro.⭐"

The frog man muttered something Maguro couldn't catch.

"Uh, yeah... what?"

"Said ya name means tuna fish. Lucky you." the frog grumbled, as if that was extremely important. Ringo actually stifled a laugh and Maguro shot a look at her.

"So... nice place you got here.⭐" Maguro whistled awkwardly. Man, where was his easy charm? Guess today was an off day for him. "Quaint."

"Okay, this is going nowhere. I have questions." Ringo stared at the frog. "Number one: do you have food? Because we're starving. And I have a knife, so it should be a yes answer. Don't worry, we'll pay you. Number two: What is this place? Number three: Were you really just about to commit a felonous act? Cuz it sure sounded like you were. And yes Maguro, before you ask, I did overhear him talking on the phone. Because that had sketch written all over it."

"Actually, it was a communicative mirror, not a phone.⭐" Maguro offered. Inwardly, he was surprised that she knew as much as she did. Kudos to her for being more observant than he thought.

"Wh- of all the- you dare- felony?!" the frog spluttered, outraged. "I dunno what yous talkin bout missy, but-" he paused. And looked behind him. And resumed. "Buuuut... whatevah yous two heard... you can keep quiet bout it right? You seem like good kids... 'Ts a matter of life an death y'know. I'll pay yous-" he offered, noticing Ringo narrowing her eyes. "Anyt'ing you wants. What would you like? Interdimensional pocket thazz an actual pocket? Magic beans? A lick o flame dat nevah goes out? It's yours..."

"Well, maybe if you'd answer my questions the way I had asked them first..." Ringo muttered. "Why'd I bother. Look, pal, we don't really care what you were doing on the phone-"

"Communicative mirror.⭐" Maguro broke in.

"-the PHONE, we just want some food, and to see if that gold nugget is yours." Ringo gestured at Maguro, who immediately mimed a hand over his throat, shaking his head violently. "Which Maguro will give to you..." Continuous head shaking. "Right NOW..." Ringo growled through gritted teeth.

NO nononoonono no no NO. Maguro couldn't just... give away the gold nugget now, after all of that! Besides, the frog was just about to smuggle like 17 of these over to his friend! Keeping it would be lawful in this case! But after one more confused and frustrated look from Ringo that definitely spelled out why he was restraining on this already stressful situation made him cave in. Reluctantly he showed off the gold hiding in his palm to the frog.

"Oh that?" The frog glanced at it. "Yeah, it's mine. Musta dropped it. You can keep it if you'd like. We square now?"

"I'm sorry, what.⭐" Maguro stared at him. He was... letting him go? With gold?! A whole palms worth millions of dollars? What was his angle?

"Er... ahem, that is, uh, _gold_ , right?" Maguro choked out.

The frog shrugged. "Yeah, sure is. Worthless as the dirt you're standin on."

"You're joking, right."

"Nope."

Maguro gazed at the gold. Worthless? But... he was about to smuggle 17 of these things! "But... the smuggling! You're smuggling gold, right?" he stomped over to the table, and grabbed the golden object without a second glance. " _This is gold right_?!"

The frog snorted disdainfully, which gave Maguro a strange tingling sensation as if he never truly had a profitable thought in his life. "OF COURSE, _THAT_ ain't gold, kid! No one would even take da time tah buy or sell gold, at any time! It's just a frickin rock. Whaddaya gettin so worked up about? It's worthless in dis economy."

Ringo gasped. "I get it! In this universe, wherever we are, gold has no value! It must be everywhere, so it has as much worth as pennies, maybe less!"

"That is so messed up... But then... what is this?" Maguro peered at the object. It was... some sort of box, wrapped in shiny gold paper. A delicious spicy smell wafted up from it.

"Only da mos' priceless and coveted dish known ta man! The spices is so rare, it's only made by ta hands of a choice few people here on this planet! An everyone loves it, so deman' is high, but it's so rare that it is illegal to sell withou' permission from the Creator. Lemme present to you..." He grabbed the box from Maguro and made a show of sniffing it and then opening up the lid.

"... _CURRY_!"

In the silence, you could hear a pin drop.

More silence.

Even more silence.

"...Dude. What... the... actual... heck." Maguro spelled out as slow as he possibly could.

Ringo frowned and tapped her foot. "Okay. Funny. So... can I just ask... _what_?"

The frog look incredibly offended. "I'm not sure yous two heard me right-"

"Frankly, I'm not sure either." Ringo muttered.

"-so lemme say it again. Curry. _C-U-R-E-Y._ The most prized dish- and spice- in dis whole dang continent." he cocked his head. "I'm not seein a whole lot of impressment."

Ringo pinched her eyebrows. "So, you're telling me... That gold is worthless here... but curry is so utterly valuable that people have to smuggle it from place to place? Because it's- excuse my sarcasm- illegal? Enlighten me, what is the rare part about curry that you can't make it in your standard kitchen whenever you feel like it?"

"Yeah, my mom makes curry all the time. Extra spicy. Sometimes we'll have it with fish and chips, it's real good stuff.⭐" Maguro piped up.

The frog gasped again. "And ya accuse me of felony, Mr. Tuna Fish! Yous mother is a world class con artist if- okay, hey PUT THE KNIFE DOWN REDDY I'll tell you!" he took a deep breath and began. "So there's this ingredient. Chili peppers? Well, we try to grow them here but they jus' won't grow. So our dear Creator has to interdimensional travel to find the chili peppers an bring em back to us. He can only bring wha he can carry. Traveling rules and whatnot. So we can't make curry. End of story."

"And no one on this gosh darn planet has ever thought of using something OTHER than chili peppers?⭐" Maguro asked, receiving another insulted gasp from the frog. "Nevermind. And you know what, I've lost interest. I'm not even hungry anymore. Ringo?"

"Lost my appetite." She nodded. "Let's get what we came for and get the heck out of here."

The frog perked up and hurriedly placed the curry back on the table. "Aha! So yous two ARE here for somethin' other than bustin me! I knew you was good kids! Names Nohoho, by the by." He held out a slimy green hand for Maguro to shake, which he took... gently.

"That's Ringo.⭐" Maguro pointed at the red head. Nohoho blinked.

"Yeesh, kids. Yo mammas sure don't have taste in names huh. Ringo. _Apple_. Well, kind of suits the lil missy, cuz apples are red, an'..."

"Excuse me, Mr. Nohoho." Ringo said with a dangerous smile. "We need your help."

"Yes, ma'am."

"We need something that'll capture and hold a gaseous entity." Ringo nodded at her choice of words.

"Yeah, or... something that'll break out of a dimension? Like dimensional scissors... or something.⭐" Maguro added, trying to look professional.

Nohoho nodded, considering his options. "Yer in luck. I may have jus' da thing tah help."

Maguro inwardly cheered. Even the thought of having an escape route from Ecolo's memory rift was enough to fill him with the energy he needed. Ringo's expression brightened. Nohoho wandered over to a cabinet, muttering to himself and throwing away what might appear to some as trash. After a moment of searching, he pulled out an dusty sphere.

"Behold! A magical snare." He blew off the dust with a loud hack.

"Wow, an orb." Ringo took at from him and peered at it, seemingly deciding whether to be impressed or sarcastic. "So it's a snare? Does it suck in his particles? Or..."

"It could be like a genie in a lamp.⭐" Maguro offered, touching the orb and rubbing his finger on his pants from the dust.

"Yep. Somethin' like dat. Though if ya ask me, I dunno if it even works anymore, it's so old..." Nohoho muttered to himself. "Whatever! Are ya satisfied? Is dat all ya came for?"

Ringo shook her head. "Hold on. Can you give me and Maguro a second here?"

"Sure thing! Absolutely no problem, I'll jus' be right over dere..." Nohoho smiled as well as a frog could smile and wandered into another room.

Maguro glanced at his friend, who was seemingly lost in thought. He smiled. She worked so hard to consider all possibilities, and to question everything. Without Ringo, he was positive he'd still be stuck back in the first memory bubble. It made him wonder what good he was for, if she already knew all the answers to every problem.

But then it was moments just like the first memory bubble that made him think different. Ringo was traumitized and completely out of her zone when she first encountered the possibility of being a ghost. He was there to feel grounded, and alive, safe with someone she knew. He supposed that without him, she'd be stuck in the first memory bubble too. Crazy how things like that work out.

That was why they were best friends.

Ringo snapped her fingers suddenly, breaking out of his thoughts. "Okay. Does this orb seem convenient to you?"

"The orb?" Maguro took another look at it. "Kind of. But, I think it all checks out, because we caught Nohoho conspiring to smuggle something. He needs to keep our traps shut, and the only way to do that is, through satisfaction. Besides, he kind of looks like he doesn't need this stuff."

Ringo seemed satisfied with that. "Okay. Second thought. Can we even bring inanimate objects outside the memory bubble? I mean, they are just thoughts in general."

"Well I sure hope so.⭐" Maguro smiled down at his gold nugget. And looked up to find Ringo giving him a look. "What? Just because it's worthless here doesn't mean it's worthless back at home!"

"Hmmm..." Ringo scrunched up her eyebrows in that cute trademark way she always does. "Okay, third thought second then. This is Ecolo's memory, right? Then how come we haven't run into Ecolo's memory shadow yet?"

Maguro considered it. "Maybe we came in early in the memory. Maybe Ecolo was supposed to find this gold nugget, which will help em find the shop. Oops." he shrugged unapologetically.

" _That_ could be it." Ringo snapped her fingers again. "So ey were delayed. I knew messing around with the memory wasn't a good idea."

"Speaking of, what is up with Nohoho? How could he see us? Was it when I touched him?" Maguro asked.

"I suppose it must've been. I guess I was wrong about that one." Ringo seemed disgusted with herself. "Well, we have learned a few things about this place through him, though."

"Yeah, like illegal curry.⭐" Maguro snorted. "Going back to thought number 2. I think I have an idea on how to test the orb outside the memory."

"Listening."

Maguro placed his hands out in a "picture this" motion. "Okay, so, when the shadow Ecolo comes-"

"If ey come-"

"When ey come, when can try the orb on em. Throw it at em or something. If it works, it means it'll work outside the memory. Why? Because shadow Ecolo doesn't belong inside the memory. It would be canceling the shadow Ecolo out if it worked and the orb couldn't go outside. If the orb doesn't work, then we still get out of the memory bubble, and try something else. What do you think?"

Ringo mused upon the plan. "Darn I should have thought of that." she muttered. "It's worth a shot. Nice thinking, Maguro!"

Maguro gaped at her. "Was that a compliment... on my planning skills?"

Ringo gave him a smile and pat on the cheek. "Sure was, Fish Breath."

"Coolio. Are we good?⭐"

"We're good." Ringo nodded and called into the next room. "Okay, Nohoho, you can come out now!"

Nohoho peeked out from the doorway. "Aha! You've figured somethin' which-I-obviously-didn't-hear out? Smashing!" He exclaimed in a terrible British accent.

"We'll take the magical snare." Maguro confirmed. Nohoho gave him a thumbs up.

"Awesome. So... will that be all?" Nohoho asked meekly.

Ringo dropped the butcher knife back on the counter. "Yeah, I think so."

Nohoho's face lit up and he began pushing the two kids out the door. "Welp, then, have a nice day don't blab to anyone about the smugglin' incident an make sure to recommen' me to ya friends an all dat see ya bye."

Maguro and Ringo were shoved onto the ground with a groan and Nohoho leaned down at them. "Yeah, yous two... are goin' to keep dis whole thin' a secret, right?"

"Why not." Maguro shrugged. "Maybe you can smuggle curry over to my curry loving friend sometime.⭐"

"Oooh! Yeah!" Ringo popped up from the dirt with a shine in her eyes. "Arle and Carbuncle would love that! Danger and curry in the same take out!"

Nohoho's face paled. "Arle? You two are friends with ARLE?! As in ARLE NADJA?!"

Maguro and Ringo gave Nohoho an odd look. "Y...eah?"

" _How in the heck does he know Arle Nadja._ " Maguro whispered to Ringo. She shrugged.

Nohoho began shaking with fear. "That crazy woman is never allowed in this shop o mine, EVER! AGAIN! Oooorgh I can still see teh flames... everywhere... and dey ate all mah curry..."

"Welp. Goodbye.⭐" Maguro stood up and brushed off his jeans before helping Ringo up. With a last odd look at the frog, they hopped through the lawn full of crazy, interesting junk and into the woods.

'''''''''

"Here's the paper trail." Ringo pointed out as they walked. "See, we'll be right back to the memory entrance in no time."

"Where we hopefully meet shadow Ecolo." Maguro added, rubbing off more dust on the orb he was holding. He could still feel the gold bouncing in his pocket, but he decided not to tell Ringo that.

"Hopefully." Ringo muttered. "If we hadn't messed up this memory so badly that ey don't appear at all."

"Let's not think about that." Maguro smiled at her. "Be optimistic. If ey don't show up, well, we just walk right back out of this memory without any tests. No big deal.⭐"

Ringo gave him a small sideways smile. "I'm really glad you're here with me, Maguro."

Maguro blinked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well... I've been thinking." Ringo stopped for a moment. "If you weren't here, I would still be trapped in the memory where I had no idea where I was, or what I was doing. I'd be completely lost. You've kept me grounded, safe, in this, well, hell I've been going through. I want to have the answer to everything, but how can you explain us walking through a memory rift? Best not to think about it, right? So thank you, for keeping me distracted enough so I don't... I don't know, explode. You've been a big help."

Maguro stopped walking, staring at Ringo, who had her eyes on the ground. "It's funny." he coughed. "I was actually thinking the same thing earlier. Except, without you, I'd be the one trapped in the memory bubble. I guess friendship goes both ways, huh?⭐"

Ringo looked up at him in surprise. "You? But, Maguro, you're so... _free-willed._ And relaxed. You'd have no problem getting out of there!"  
"And you think of every possible circumstance and a solution to said circumstance. I'd say the same about you." Maguro grinned bashfully.

"Wow. I haven't thought of it that way." Ringo sat down, enamored. "I've always thought that I was the burden on this trip. The one who's complaining. The one who freaks out at the first sign of an illogical factor. But..."

"But...?" Maguro sat down next to her. "That I'm the one who gets distracted? The one who can barely think his way out of a paper bag? The one who, at every moment, needs to whip out my kendama because I don't know what to do?"

"Wow. We both have our faults." Ringo frowned. "I guess I was too caught up in my own thoughts and problems that I didn't see the slightly bigger picture. For someone who prides themselves as a thinker, I really am small-minded."

"But you're also the one holding up the team." Maguro pointed out. "You have to be the thinker so I can focus on what I'm good at too, which is... being the encouragement."

Ringo looked up at him with a small shake of her head. "You're much more than just the encouragement, Maguro Sasaki. And you know it."

Maguro couldn't stand being so close and yet so ridiculously far at this point. "Okay. Hug?"

Ringo grinned. "Hug."

And they hugged.

It felt warm, and made Maguro feel all tingly for the first time in many hours. He wrapped his arms around his best friend, even tighter, and felt all of the distraction, and all of his adrenaline being replaced with calming sensation. It no longer mattered that they were trapped in a psychologically declining memory rift, ruled by a psycho dimensional traveler who was bent on maybe keeping them there forever. What mattered is that they were in this mess together, and they would get out of this mess together. As a team.

"I'm glad we talked." Maguro murmured as they stood up.

"I am too." Ringo replied as they walked onward.

"Well, so am _I_!" a loud, incredibly unwanted familiar voice exclaimed. Maguro glanced up in alarm to see a blobby form giving them an amused look. "Because your loud unnatural voices, at least in this memory, allowed me to pinpoint you!"

"It's the shadow Ecolo." Ringo muttered. "Yay for us."

The shadow Ecolo floated down, raising a blobby fist up to eir chin. "Y'know, I was here to deliver the curry sample to Muhoho, as such this memory goes, when, wow! I find the two people I thought were supposed to be following me!" ey paused, realizing eir error. "Er, well, not me exactly. I'm just a memory shadow. The fully beautiful Ecolo, I supposed. What are you two doing out here, I wonder? Not playing the game exactly as planned?"

"Something like that." Ringo confronted him with a sly smile. "Hey, Ecolo... wanna play a short MINI-game as warmup for getting back into the REAL game?"

A childish, drooling grin appeared on the shadow's face. "A mini-game? Ooooh, fun! Which one shall we play?"

"How bout catch?⭐" Maguro tossed the orb from one hand to another.

"Naw... catch is boring." Ecolo yawned. Maguro and Ringo stiffened with alarm.

"...How 'bout ball tag!" ey continued with a cackle as ey floated away. "Bet you can't catch meeee!"

Ringo let out an arrggghhh. "Are you actually kidding me?!"

"Let's get moving!⭐" Maguro rushed past her and sprinted after Ecolo.

For future reference, and for those who definitely read this whole chapter (of our lives), the woods are a very, very inconvenient place to run. At every turn, he felt a tug in his stomach to avoid all the roots and stumps possible so he doesn't break his ankle. Beside him, he could hear Ringo panting and muttering a pattern to herself:

"Root. Stump. Left. Branch. Rock. Right..." etc.

In a last moment of triumph, Ecolo dove into the path, a path that appeared suspiciously like the one they had first arrived on.

Maguro jumped out of the shrubbery in time for Ecolo to turn around.

"Eat this!" He shouted. Much, much later he'd regret saying that lame of a line, but one musn't be picky. With a quick windup, he tossed the orb straight into shadow Ecolo's face.

Ringo sucked in her breath as she arrived next to him as the orb sailed right through the shadow...

...and landed with an arc on the ground with a crash.

"No!" She gasped. Running over to the orb, she knelt down in despair, seeing as the orb was now a pile of broken shards. "It was supposed to work. It had to work."

"Um..." shadow Ecolo coughed awkwardly. "...You guys knew from the beginning that objects will just pass through me, right? Cuz, you know, I'm a shadow?"

"Shut up, Ecolo." Maguro dismissed em. He ran over to Ringo's side, and was distraught to find her clenching her fists with anger.

"I am going to kill that stupid low life amphibian." she growled. "He scammed us."

Maguro shook his head and helped her to stand up. "I don't think he did. He was telling the truth. I doubt he knew that the orb wouldn't work."

"So, uh... I'm just gonna, y'know. Skidaddle. Bye bye!" the shadow Ecolo awkwardly opened the memory bubble entrance, which was, strangely, right next to them. And waltzed on out. But Maguro couldn't help but notice the strange look ey gave Ringo, as if ey wanted to comfort her, but wasn't sure ey had the capability. The longing sigh. The way ey just left the memory door open, as if ey wanted to help in some way, but ey'd never done this before.

Maguro would have to think about this later.

For now, he focused his attention on Ringo. She let out a shaky sigh. "So. We're back at square one. We haven't gained anything before or after coming in here. What a waste of time."

Maguro glanced back at the open door. "Maybe not a complete waste." Something about Ecolo's almost human attitude was bothering him.

Ey were lonely.

Ey wanted Ringo to be eir only friend.

Ey trapped them here to be a part of some game eir playing...

And spies on them...

Almost as if...

Ey're deciding whether or not they'll keep an open-mind about something ey wants to show or tell the two of them at the end of the game.

Maguro had an idea. "Hey, Ringo. I have an idea, but you're not going to like it."

"I'll take anything at this point." she looked up at him hopefully.

"I think... I think... we need to play Ecolo's game."

Ringo gave him a sharp, surprised, outraged look. "What? Why?!"

"I don't think Ecolo's keeping us trapped here for the fun of it. I think ey want us to follow him. Look how ey left the door open. Ey keeps taunting us, not to get on our nerves, but to get us to follow em." Maguro mused. "Listen, I don't know why yet, but it's eir memory bubble. If anyone knows the way out of here, ey do."

"You're asking me to trust em. That ey won't kill us along the way."

"Yeah, I kinda am." Maguro scratched his head. "Is that crazy?"

Ringo smirked. "Absolutely insane. But hey, what part of this game isn't?"

Maguro blinked. "So... you're going to go along with it?"

"It doesn't mean I have to like it. And for your information, I'm still going to keep looking for a weapon of some kind to subdue em." Ringo folded her arms. "But in the meantime, we might as well see what ey wants."

Maguro smiled. "Great. Let's go, then. After you.⭐"

As Ringo and Maguro stepped near the memory entrance, Maguro stopped. "Oh, wait, hold on!"

"What's up?" Ringo asked as Maguro rummaged through his pockets. Maguro pulled out the gold nugget with a regretful wince.

"I'm going to so hear from you about this later." He threw the golden nugget as far away from the entrance as possible.

"I don't need to be rich to have enough." Wow, Maguro felt proud of himself for that one. He'd thought it up on the spot and everything.

"This whole thing has been one big cheesy life-lesson-learned right after another, hasn't it?" Ringo rolled her eyes. "Can we make that our last one, please?"

"Yes, ma'am.⭐"

things to remember for the next chapter: Following Ecolo's Game. Ringo still finding a weapon. Maguro still needs to find something that scares him. Ecolo still needs Maguro and Ringo to pop Puyos in order to strengthen them so they can transform. Ecolo is mad that Maguro and Ringo didn't pop any Puyos in the last chapter.

Risukuma should make his debut, he was worried when he found out what the the rift was.

Current Character Development: Maguro and Ringo are closer as a team. They have realized that they couldn't survive without the other in their situation. Ringo is overbearing and logical, Maguro is chill. Maguro is distracting, Ringo is a planner. Ringo has learned not to fear the illogical in this dimension. She still hates ghosts, but she can tolerate everything else. Further character development: 

Maguro's Fear: that his friends aren't real because of his beautifully cursed face. That Ringo only likes him because of his eyes, which is rather irrational, and he knows that, but the fear is still there.


End file.
